| “ |
Drown your sorrows with some video games! |
” | —Clench's first words after becoming sentient, SMG4: The Day My Arm Went Psycho | ||
Clench is a recurring yet minor character in the SMG4 series.
He is Tari's self-aware cybernetic arm, having mysteriously become sentient for reasons unknown. Seemingly, Clench wants to help his possessor out, but sometimes impulsively branches out from her. In response, Tari tries to hide his existence from her friends, with the exception of Meggy and Bob who he has revealed himself to, usually for his own reasons.
As of SMG4: He Was Denied Switch 2, only Tari, Meggy, Bob, SMG4 and SMG3 are aware of his existence.
Personality[]
Due to how little Clench has appeared in episodes since his debut, little of his personality has been displayed. All that's known about him is that he is considered to be an "antithesis" to Tari, mainly due to him being impulsive, high self-esteem due to seeing himself as a "giga chad" and is fearless - as opposed to Tari who tends to think before acting, has self-esteem issues and is known for being the most cowardly of the female characters.
History[]
SMG4: The Day My Arm Went Psycho[]
Tari practices her job interview with Meggy and "advice" from Saiko, but when Mario starts acting up, Tari unintentionally slaps Mario which causes her to freak out as she claims it wasn't her but when Mario tries talking back, she proceeds to comically bash his head in multiple times. Unable to control her haywire cybernetic arm, it switches to a boxing glove and proceeds to deck Meggy upside the head and sends her flying through the ceiling and crashing into an airplane.
Horrified by her uncontrollable violence, Tari runs into the bathroom and talks to herself in the mirror, asking why she has to screw up today of all days until her glitching cybernetic arm suddenly begins talking to her and she begins running around, freaking out even more than before. However, her arm shushes her and it assures her that she isn't dreaming and that he isn't a ghost, god, santa, her Jiminy Cricket and that she (probably) doesn't have Schizophrenia.
Still terrified of her new talking prosthetic limb, she asks who he is and her arm replies that he doesn't know but tells her that he knows who she is, that she has blue hair, can go into video games, is stupid old and tries to tell her where she comes from but only responds in undecipherable gibberish and realizes he isn't allowed to remember that.
SMG4: No TV Make Mario No Okie Dokie[]
Clench reveals himself to Meggy, and competes with her over opening the hatch to the basement.
I Put Mario In Danger For Views[]
Clench awakens during a challenge done by SMG3 due to him threatening to destroy her pet duck, causing him to try and take over, but ultimately failed to complete the challenge, resulting in Tari's rubber duck being shot by a gun.
SMG4 CHRISTMAS SPECIAL 2024[]
Clench makes a very minor role in the first special, shivering despite being purely cybernetic. He only helps Tari when she offers a glove for him to wear.
Mario Reacts to the Best 2024 Memes[]
Clench makes an extremely minor appearance in this episode, looking at Tari when they’re both about to die.
Appearances[]
Note: Even though Clench has been featured in every episode in which Tari appeared, only the episodes in which he appears as sentient should be listed in this section.
SMG4[]
- SMG4: The Day My Arm Went Psycho
- SMG4: No TV Make Mario No Okie Dokie
- I Put Mario In Danger For Views
- SMG4 CHRISTMAS SPECIAL 2024
- Mario Reacts to the Best 2024 Memes
- SMG4: LETS MAKE A DEAL Minor
- SMG4: He Was Denied Switch 2
SMG4 CREW[]
Reception[]
Fans have shown mixed feelings at Clench's awakening due to how little he has been involved in episodes since his debut. Some are upset that he is "stealing" Meggy's role at coaching Tari to become braver while many others believe his potential to be wasted due to him having almost no relevance to the plot or Tari's character development, despite him having supposedly hinted at having a bigger role during the Puzzlevision Saga.
Some of the fanbase initially believed that Clench was hinting to have connections to Tari's origins in the SMG4 series and possibly to explain where she came from or even as a major character in a Tari-centered arc due to the common belief that Meggy takes up the spotlight from the female characters, especially Tari and Saiko.
Trivia[]
- Clench's role may become increasingly significant in future arcs/sagas following the conclusion of the PUZZLEVISION storyline.
- Meggy and Clench's relationship with Tari are very similar, as they try to motivate Tari to do what's they think is for the best, coaching her to try to be more mentally and physically stronger over her own fears and anxiety. However, Clench's own method for Tari is to dive it to the problem head-first, instead of planning it out. Yet, some fans believe him to still be a better coach than Meggy due to the latter's constant method of gaslighting Tari during the "Western Spaghetti" mini-arc and having not actually tried to properly coach Tari.
- In SMG4 Movie: REVELATIONS, Clench (who wasn't sentient yet) gets separated from Tari's body after a comet from the God Box hits them.
- Clench was originally theorized to possibly be connected to Mr. Puzzles, either having been hacked into Tari's prosthetic mainframe as a proxy AI To cause problems for her or might have even himself communicating with her via his ability to interface with, attempting to manipulate her or sabotage her life, however, due to Clench being completely absent during the PUZZLEVISION saga as a whole and no revelations of connections being made between them, as well as Mr. Puzzles' apparent death at the hands of SMG4 after losing his ratings and thus power over everyone, the theory is effectively debunked.
- There is actually a real life phenomenon where Clench could have been based on, being named Alien Hand Syndrome, where you cannot control one of your limbs, but they can work together, similar to Tari’s situation.
- Currently, the only members of the SMG4's crew aware of Clench's existence apart from Tari herself is Meggy, whom Clench revealed himself to in order to in insult them due to enjoying roasting them. Despite this, Mario has also seen Clench talk but and Meggy, he doesn't think Clench is real and thinks he’s just Tari pretending to talk to her own hand. Bob has also heard him talk, though he never explicitly referred to Clench while responding to him. As of SMG4: He Was Denied A Switch 2, SMG3 and SMG4 have also seen him talk, with SMG4 directly talking to him.